ICA Morimoto vs. Zakarian

You’ve seen Geoffrey Zakarian as a judge on Chopped. You’ve seen him helping out on Hell’s Kitchen. You have seen Zakarian as a judge on Top Chef. Now you will see him like you’ve never seen him before, as a contestant. And not in some lame culinary free-for-all where the challenge often fails to identify the best chef (see above) but in the only chef competition on TV that pits two chefs in a one-on-one cooking competition, Iron Chef America.

Of late Zakarian has been seen on every major cooking show on TV and he has released a cookbook, Geoffrey Zakarian’s Town/Country: 150 Recipes for Life Around the Table. As a result, Zakarian has all but abandoned professional cooking of late, but when he enters Kitchen Stadium Iron Chef Morimoto will be waiting for him. You have to admire Geoffrey for returning to the stove against an Iron Chef like Morimoto. The question that remains – is he rusty?

Zakarian’s career has been a distinguished one. After graduation from CIA he went from being a line cook (’82) to Chef de Cuisine (’87 ) at famed Le Cirque. From there he took the same post at another legendary New York eatery, “21” Club. In ’88 he was named the executive chef at Maxwell’s Plum where he stayed only months before moving to “44” Restaurant where he served as executive chef for the better part of a decade. A brief stint in Miami brought him back to the Big Apple, this time as the chef/owner of Town which was soon followed by Country.

A native of Bordeaux, Zakarian pits his classic French cuisine against the new age Japanese style of Iron Chef Morimoto. The judges were Anya Fernald, Danyelle Freeman and Donatella Arpaia. After two weeks off, ICA returns with a true heavy weight battle.

Stuart is a celebrity chef, food activist and award-winning food writer. He penned the cookbooks Third Coast Cuisine: Recipes of the Gulf of Mexico, No Sides Needed: 34 Recipes To Simplify Life and Amigeauxs - Mexican/Creole Fusion Cuisine. He hosts two Internet cooking shows "Everyday Gourmet" and "Little Grill Big Flavor." His recipes have been featured in Current, Lagniappe, Southern Tailgater, The Kitchen Hotline and on the Cooking Channel.